Without A Home: The National Youth Homelessness Survey

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Quality of life and assessment of health Among our sample, 29.9% rated their quality of life as ‘poor,’ while 33.2% said ‘good’ or ‘very good.’ When asked about their current state of health, one third (33.9%) expressed dissatisfaction, while 36.9% said they were satisfied. Hygiene Being able to maintain personal hygiene is correlated with better physical health and personal well-being. Past research suggests that youth who experience homelessness have limited access to dental care and have worse oral health (e.g., dental and gum disease). All participants were asked questions related to hygiene and approximately one third indicated they had difficulty maintaining personal hygiene. TABLE 9 Hygiene In the past month, how often have you… DAILY SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK ONCE A WEEK OR LESS Been able to bathe or shower 46.4% 26.5% 27.1% Been able to brush your teeth 53% 20.3% 26.6% Been able to put on clean clothes 41.2% 25.4% 33.4% Nutritional vulnerability Adolescence is associated with a need for increased nutritional requirements to foster growth and healthy physical and mental development. <strong>The</strong>re is a considerable body of research that demonstrates that young people who experience homelessness are exposed to significant nutritional vulnerability (Dachner & Tarasuk, 2013; Gaetz et al., 2006; Tarasuk et al., 2009a, 2009b; Trarasuk & Dachner, 2013). Tarasuk and her team have shown that young people experiencing homelessness are unlikely to obtain proper nutrition regardless of whether they receive food from charitable services or through the proceeds of their own income generation. Failure to obtain adequate access to food means that young people not only have compromised health, but that their energy levels are lower. As Dachner and Tarasuk (2013) identify, “[c]hronically poor nutrition during adolescence can have negative health impacts over the lifespan and is associated with an increased risk of infections. Poor nutrition can also worsen conditions such as depression, substance abuse and sexually transmitted diseases. <strong>Home</strong>less youth face extreme nutritional vulnerability due to chronic food deprivation and poor nutritional quality of food” (p. 1). 62 WITHOUT A HOME: THE NATIONAL YOUTH HOMELESSNESS SURVEY
When we asked young people how many times over the past week they had been unable to obtain a well-balanced, nutritious, and filling meal, 38.5% said 1-5 times, 14.5% said 6-10 times, and 15.6% said more than 10 times. We also asked them a range of questions about food: TABLE 10 Nutritional vulnerability In the past month, how often have you… DAILY SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK ONCE A WEEK OR LESS Eaten a good quality, balanced meal when you wanted or needed one 26.8% 26.8%% 46.3% Accessed clean drinking water 70.6% 15.1% 14.3% Eaten on a clean surface 50.8% 24.7% 24.6% While 26.8% of our respondents had access to good quality food when they needed it, almost half (46.3%) experienced this once a week or less. While most youth had access to clean water on a regular basis, it is important to note that almost 30% did not. 46.3% reported having access to quality food once a week or less 34.7% reported having little or no energy for everyday life 29.4% reported not having access to clean drinking water daily Consequently, when asked if they have enough energy for everyday life, one third (34.7%) reported having little or no energy. This finding is important because low energy levels have a significant impact on young people’s ability to work, go to school, carry out healthy relationships, and move forward in their lives. WITHOUT A HOME: THE NATIONAL YOUTH HOMELESSNESS SURVEY 63
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without a home: The National Youth
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Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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YOUTH HOMELESSNESS continues to be
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BECOMING HOMELESS: PATHWAYS INTO HO
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3. Involvement in Child Protection
Page 11 and 12: • High levels of chronicity - Alm
Page 13 and 14: • Transitional supports for young
Page 15 and 16: • We must intervene before youth
Page 17 and 18: 4. Community strategies should nece
Page 19 and 20: YOUTH HOMELESSNESS is a significant
Page 21 and 22: Our approach to data analysis was d
Page 23 and 24: METHODOLOGY How was the research co
Page 25 and 26: SECTION 5 - DISCUSSION: IMPLICATION
Page 27 and 28: YOUNG PEOPLE WHO ARE HOMELESS (ages
Page 29 and 30: Young people can be grouped into th
Page 31 and 32: 2.4 LGBTQ2S Youth Research on youth
Page 33 and 34: SECTION 3: BECOMING HOMELESS
Page 35 and 36: Finally, structural factors contrib
Page 37 and 38: FIGURE 1 Pathways into homelessness
Page 39 and 40: FIGURE 2 Age of first homelessness
Page 41 and 42: Importantly, our data also shows th
Page 43 and 44: Personal factors contributing to ho
Page 45 and 46: It should be expected that young pe
Page 47 and 48: Transitions from care should be a p
Page 49 and 50: Some important differences exist am
Page 51 and 52: 3.4 Experiences in School While the
Page 53 and 54: at some point during their time in
Page 55 and 56: FIGURE 6 Factors that undermine sch
Page 57 and 58: THE PATHWAYS INTO HOMELESSNESS ARE
Page 59 and 60: 4.1 Housing Housing instability is
Page 61: 60% of the chronically homeless pop
Page 65 and 66: Within the sample, 42% of participa
Page 67 and 68: violence makes the impact of pre-st
Page 69 and 70: Our analysis indicates that money m
Page 71 and 72: Money from family and friends Recei
Page 73 and 74: Debt load and cheque cashing Past r
Page 75 and 76: 53.2% of youth experiencing homeles
Page 77 and 78: According to our analysis, selling
Page 79 and 80: Criminal victimization amongst the
Page 81 and 82: TABLE 23 Sexual assault: Gender In
Page 83 and 84: TABLE 25 People you can count on Do
Page 85 and 86: 8.2% responded negatively (disagree
Page 87 and 88: TABLE 27 Self-esteem Levels of self
Page 89 and 90: “I NEVER QUIT. I moved forward th
Page 91 and 92: THE WITHOUT A HOME STUDY IS THE FIR
Page 93 and 94: Colonialism, intergenerational trau
Page 95 and 96: Our findings indicate that those wh
Page 97 and 98: As suggested above, the current res
Page 99 and 100: 5.3 The Need to Help Young People M
Page 101 and 102: The consequences and outcomes of be
Page 103 and 104: service providers (mainstream as we
Page 105 and 106: The implications of this research f
Page 107 and 108: 5.7 Building Resilience, Assets, an
Page 109 and 110: Reconnecting with family While fami
Page 111 and 112: IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WANT TO SHARE
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PREVENTING AND ENDING YOUTH HOMELES
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2. Provincial and Territorial Gover
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2.4 Provincial Ministries of Justic
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3.4 Community strategies should nec
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3.9 Mental health and addictions ne
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Courtney, ME, Skyles, A, Miranda, G
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Nichols, N. (2013). Nobody ‘Signs
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